Where Loyalties Lie
by ekc293
Summary: "'Richard Castle is my partner'" She screamed back, louder than could ever be considered professional when talking to your superior." Gates is not happy with our favorite duo... but Kate's not too happy with her either. Future one-shot.


I am seriously spoiling you guys... even though the response to my last chapter of Phobophobia was kind of incredibly depressing... I really liked how that one worked out.  
>Anyway... I wasn't going to post that but Kris said I should, and since I almost always listen to Kris, I figured y'all might enjoy it. It's slightly based off another Castle Confession from tumblr... but whatevs.<p>

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Castle and I don't run Castle Confessions of tumblr. I do run HipsterCastle... but that's a different matter entirely.

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><p>Standing in the Captain's office was never a good place to be at the Twelfth Precinct. It usually meant that you were being briefed on a very serious case, or you were about to get torn apart for something that you had done wrong.<p>

More often than not, it was the second possibility.

Detective Kate Beckett stood in the middle of the room in front of the large wooden desk, staring at the Captain who still looked out of place in the decorated office. Beckett waited in silence while Captain Gates looked over the paperwork sitting in front of her.

Beckett stood there for a few more moments before Gates put down the stack of papers and looked at the young Detective standing in front of her. She took of her reading glasses with one hand and set them down on top of her papers. She squared her shoulders and began speaking.

"Do you know why I called you in here, Beckett?"

Yes, Kate knew exactly why she had been called in here. Earlier in the day, she and Castle had been investigating at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for their case when they had the police called on them.

Why? Because what Beckett meant by "earlier in the day," was that it was 3:30 in the morning, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art was the crime scene, it was still open to the public, meaning they still closed at regular intervals. After everything had been explained (and Beckett flashed her badge a few times), they had been let go, but not before word had gotten back to the Captain that they had been apprehended.

But rather than delve into detail, Beckett responded with an obedient, "Yes, sir."

That set Gates off.

"Detective, what you did today was beyond illegal! I should have you suspended for that stunt that you pulled in there."

Kate stared directly into the eyes of her Captain, "Yes, sir. I understand, sir."

"Why did you do it, Detective?"

Beckett squared her shoulders, her gaze flitting to the window momentarily towards her desk where Rick was sitting with Ryan and Esposito, watching the exchange with wide, curious, and sympathetic eyes. In a split second, her eyes were focused back on Gates.

"I was thinking about the case and something didn't seem right. Looking back over the crime scene photographs, the ones taken by the victim a week before the murder and the ones taken by CSU when the body was discovered, we noticed that there was a piece of artwork missing on the wall that should have been there before that went neglected. We wanted to check the scene for other discrepancies before anything else went wrong."

"I'm sorry, Beckett… Did you say 'we'?" Gates said accusingly.

Beckett mentally cursed herself for letting that slip, but she wasn't going to be able to lie about it now. She came clean.

"Yes, sir. We. Meaning Castle and myself."

"Detective, are you meaning to tell me that you allowed yourself, a member of the NYPD, to be influenced by a _civilian_?"

In truth, Castle had been the one to call her and point out the differences in the pictures and plant the seed that we weren't looking at a murder, but rather an art heist gone wrong. Since they had no leads on who would want their victim, a kindergarten teacher of 24 years, dead, she decided to humor his idea. Yes, she could've waited until the morning to go, but they both knew the cleaning staff would come in and wipe away any remaining evidence, so it was essential that they gather the evidence as soon as possible.

But there was no way Beckett was going to allow Gates to blame this all on Castle.

Kate spoke respectfully, "Sir, I made the decision to go to the museum this morning. I take full responsibility for my actions."

Gates ignored her. "That is completely unacceptable. That man is corrupting one of my best detectives and making my precinct look like a joke."

Refusing to acknowledge the compliment, Beckett stood up as tall as she could. "With all do respect Captain, you're wrong."

Gates looked at her incredulously, "What did you say, Detective?"

Beckett realized she was treading in insubordinate waters, but she was honestly sick of hearing Gates constantly put Castle down. Calmly, she said, "I said you're wrong. Castle has done neither of those things. _I _take complete responsibility for my actions."

The Captain's voice rose slightly, "Don't lie to me Detective, I know you're not that stupid…"

Beckett interrupted Gates, her voice matching hers, "Castle is not stupid."

Gates eyes lit up in fury, "What qualifications does he even have to be following you around, Detective?"

Kate responded without a second thought, "He doesn't act like a cop, but he thinks like one. Castle provides excellent insight into cases. He focuses on the details rather than the big picture like we often end up doing. Castle's loyal, and he's brilliant, and…"

Gates cut her off with a voice that could only be described as a yell, "Richard Castle does not belong in my precinct!"

"Richard Castle is my partner!" She screamed back, louder than could ever be considered professional when talking to your superior. A quick glance to her desk let her know that she and the Captain had been yelling so loud that the bullpen could hear the conversation. She locked eyes with Castle and the emotion shining through his eyes was palpable. She took a deep breath and locked eyes with her Captain again.

"That man," Kate said, he voice significantly lower, "is the best partner I have ever had. He wants justice to be served to those who do wrong to others and he's saved my life more than once." She took another deep breath to keep her emotions in check, "Official or not, he's my partner." She stared directly in the eyes of Captain Gates, her gaze unfazed, "and nothing is going to change that."

Beckett and Gates stayed frozen, locked in a staring contest of wills. Gates could see that Beckett was not going to back down. The Detective's eyes radiated nothing but pure loyalty for her partner. She was going to protect her _partner_ with everything that she had. Gates had a feeling that there were some underlying feelings that went way beyond loyalty, but she had no reason to believe that they were going to become an issue. _Yet._

Leaning back in her chair infinitesimally, she said lowly, "Go home. And take your sidekick with you. I don't want to see either of you until tomorrow."

Sensing her small victory in the small battle that had just occurred, Kate nodded her head, "Yes, sir."

Then Gates put her glasses back on and picked up her paperwork again.

Kate spun on her heels and walked out of the office. Closing the door behind her, she caught Castle's eye again. He was looking at her with a mixture of guilt and pride that she just wanted to hug him to make it all go away.

But of course she wouldn't. She had to keep herself in check.

Beckett walked over to her desk and quickly shut down her computer, cleaning up her files and picking up her jacket and her bag.

"Kate…"

She quickly spun around. His whispered utterance of her name made her heart clench.

"Yeah, Castle?" She said softly.

"I'm so sorry. If I hadn't…"

Beckett couldn't take it. She leaned over and touched his arm gently.

"Stop that, Castle. I'm a big girl, I make my own decisions."

She stood up straight and shrugged her jacket on.

"Go home, Castle." She said. Once she saw his hurt expression, she clarified. "The Captains doesn't want to see either of us until tomorrow."

She saw the emotions flash through his eyes again. She turned to leave when she felt someone grab her hand. She turned and saw Castle standing closer than before.

"Thank you." He whispered.

Kate smiled and gave his hand a small squeeze.

"No one messes with my partner." She let go of his hand and gave him a wink.

"Except me, of course."

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><p>Well, there you go.<br>**Love it? Hate it? **lol Emily stop writing. **Let me know what you think!**


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